Cease Fire
by StatsGrandma57
Summary: Follow up to 'Awake.' Good news all around.


CEASE FIRE

So this is it, Jaina said to herself as the holocomm flashed across her datapad. Honorable discharge.

As much as she'd wanted out of the Navy, the holocomm made her feel slightly depressed. It really was over. The relief she'd hoped for didn't materialize. She could feel tears starting to sting her eyes.

She thought back on her early days as a new candidate; they were punishing days, but the camaraderie she'd developed with her squad had been a great experience. They'd had a lot of laughs, telling jokes, playing cards, getting drunk, and all the while becoming pilots of unparalleled expertise. They'd cajoled and supported and taunted and hung together through the most difficult training exercises. And there was the academic portion; Jaina truly shone there and helped classmates with their studying, and like her father before her, graduated at the top of her class.

She'd spent the last six years of her life with these sentients. And now, she was no longer of the body. It did actually feel like an amputation of sorts, something she'd been fortunate not to acquire.

She allowed herself a few moments to be sentimental as she worked on her stretching exercises that would help restore her strength. Working in her father's business was not for the weak; there was plenty of heavy lifting and Han was having a more difficult time with it. She was not going to be bound by endless minutiae for the simplest of tasks; there was no hierarchy to deal with, no endless politics. Unlike her mother, she was not good at politics and didn't want to have to deal with them.

Her father's politics were simple: get the job done right. That meant having gone thoroughly through precheck, making sure the cargo matched what the shipper said it was, getting there on time, and making sure to have enough credits in case bribes were needed.

Jaina felt that she could handle that. She'd get to fly as much as she wanted to. She loved the _Falcon_ but hoped to save for her own ship. The _Falcon_ would forever be her father's ship. She wanted one of her own.

She'd wanted to do some cargo runs with her father but he'd been adamant that she get her strength back and was becoming slightly bored.

The war in Hapes continued to drag on, and that was difficult for her, knowing her team was out there and she wasn't helping. It took her mother away for longer than she would have liked; she and her mom had had a lot of good talks once she was better. She missed Tenel Ka; she was Jacen's woman but also her friend. Gods knew when she'd be back.

And most of all, she missed Jag. He got in contact with her every chance he got, but she longed for the day when the Hapan civil war would end. Jag and she could be together more often that way. He was now openly affectionate towards her.

I only had to come within an inch of losing my life before he woke up, she thought wryly.

She had the apartment to herself; Han was with his trainees and Jarik was still in school. The little twerp, as she endearingly called Jarik, was good for her spirits. He was at the shallow end of the pool in some ways but his genuine good nature and ability to laugh at everyone and everything, especially himself, was welcome. When her father was there, they'd watch the smashball games and some holocinema. She had once said to her mother that Leia hadn't married him for his tastes in holocinema.

"You're wrong about that," Han countered. "She didn't marry me for my tastes in anything." She missed her parents bantering as they did while attending to at least one of their myriad chores.

Stretching complete, she was about to head for the sofa and the novel she'd been reading. That was something she hadn't done in the entire time she was in the Navy, and it was fun to read potboilers and lust in the dust, like junk food for the mind. She'd done her practice with her lightsaber for the day, and found her strength and flexibility were coming back to what they once were.

She'd just gotten comfortable when her comm chirped. She figured it was probably Jacen; he and Allana took dinner with her most nights.

To her surprise, it was Jag.

"Turn on the news," he said by way of greeting.

"Hey, whatever happened to, 'hey Jaina, how're you doing?'" she taunted him lightly.

"Just flip it on."

Jaina was about to be flippant, asking him if he'd gotten arrested or something, but her mouth didn't open up until she had the news on.

Tenel Ka and her mother were giving a press conference.

"The opposition to democracy has been defeated," Tenel Ka said clearly. "There is treaty. I will step down from my position as Queen Mother to pave the way for free and fair elections. Madam Solo has drafted many such agreements throughout her career, and Hapes today has changed for the better. I will be part of the interim government for the next three months, at which time nominees will be announced from their political parties. I look forward to the new government, and I will not run for prime minister."

A reporter managed to hone in harder than some of the others in the fray, called out, "Are you going to continue to live on Hapes?"

Tenel Ka was remarkably composed.

"I will not. It is my wish to join my daughter and my companion on Coruscant at the earliest possible time."

"Madam Solo, you haven't been active in the diplomatic community for some time now, having become a professor," another reporter chimed in. "Do you feel you're equal to the task?"

"I have to teach diplomacy, and if anything, it's sharpened my skills, having to analyze everything in even more detail than ever."

"Way to go, Mom!" Jaina cheered. She then recalled that Jag had called her and she'd forgotten to pick up her comm. Jag was still there.

"So the war's over!" I can't help but feel triumphant, even though it was not my war to win.

"Enough blood and treasure's been spent. It's time," Jag agreed. "I have to debrief the squadron, but I'll comm later. I love you."

He hung up before Jaina could respond, but she was smiling.

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Han arrived not long after.

"Catch the news, Daddy?"

Han grinned. "I did. Good news for a change!"

"How long do you think Mom's gonna be stuck there?"

Han grimaced. "Probably a while. She's the architect of this whole thing."

"I dunno. I never appreciated how hard Mom had to work before."

"Shooting's easy. Negotiations, now that's mad skills. And your mom's one of the best."

Jaina sobered. "I lost some friends to this bloody war. At least now the fighting's stopped."

"War takes from everyone, honey. Even if you're not directly in the line of fire, it'll steal things from you." Han winced a little.

"I wish I'd listened better when Mom and you told us about the Galactic Civil War. I might've learned something. Maybe changed my mind about joining the Navy."

"Nah, it wouldn't have," Han said. "You know yourself better than that."

Jaina conceded that he was correct. She would have joined no matter what.

"You don't talk about your time in the Navy very much," Jaina said to her father.

"Nothing to tell, really. I was there, I piloted TIE fighters and a lot of other craft, and I got cashiered out. And, like you, looking back on it, I wouldn't have lasted that long. Something about me having a big mouth."

"And you hating slavery."

"That, too."

"And that's why Chewie's never left for very long."

"The life debt, yeah. He goes back to Kashyyyk a little more than he used to, but he's here till death do us part."

"Hate to tell you this, Daddy, but Chewie told me it doesn't end there. I mean, he said you told him to take care of the princess and he has to do that, and the life debt includes all of us."

"That can only mean one thing."

"What?"

"That we're gonna be vacuuming Wookiee fur from the carpet forever."

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Han had spent a while comm'g Leia on the secure channel and then prepared dinner for Jaina, Jarik, Jacen and Allana. Jacen and Allana stuck around for a while, Jarik amusing his niece with funny faces and sticking fried tubers up his nose. Allan found this hilarious.

"I got my discharge today," Jaina said to Han and Jacen as they sat in the living room, leaving Jarik to keep Allana hyperactive and incoherent.

"Bet that's a relief," Jacen said.

"Yeah, it was. But it was kind of weird," Jaina said to him. "I felt sort of sad, too."

"Sounds about right," Han said, working the remote for the holovision, channel surfing.

"I'm not Lieutenant Jaina Solo anymore," Jaina said quietly. "I'm just...me now."

Han nodded. He understood what his daughter meant.

"Sort of ironic that it came on the day of the cease fire," Jacen commented.

Jaina nodded. "Daddy, how long is Mom stuck on Hapes?" she asked.

"She's saying a month." Han had tuned in to a smashball game. The Corellian Drednoughts weren't playing but the Tatooine Glop Monsters were. Han loved cheering against the Glop Monsters.

"Tenel Ka's saying three for her," Jacen sighed. "I miss her something fierce."

"Well, sounds to me like she's planning to stay once the elections are over," Jaina said. "Sounds like she's done with public life for good."

"It's highly overrated," Han assured his eldest son.

"Jaina, when do you think you're gonna be able to join Dad?" Jacen asked her.

"I'm getting there," Jaina said. "It'd better be soon, because I'm itching to fly again."

"Pretty soon we're all gonna be anonymous and then all we gotta do is live our lives," Jacen said with a smile.

Jaina smiled at her twin. "That'll be the real cease fire."


End file.
